A Boy’s Room With Room To Grow

Slowly, slowly, so slowly, we are finishing rooms one by one in our new house.

So slowly that this is only the 2nd room we ain’t touching again for a loooonnnnng time. Hopefully. I mean, unless I come up with something I like better, and we have some free time.

Okay, no. Probably not ever again.

Kendall’s room is DONE.

I knew going into this that we plan to be in this house, and have him in this room long through his adolescent years and into the teens, so every part of this space was designed with a 16 year old in mind.

You guys, I had to think about my little boy as a TEENAGER, for extended periods of time. It was awful.

The plan of attack was to start with a neutral base, then layer in fun pieces that would be easy and inexpensive to change out if/when he outgrows them.

Also, repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.

To start, we put him back in a full size bed. The bunk/loft bed wasn’t needed anymore since he’s not sharing a room with his brother, and it was SO dang hot up there.

So we dusted off the headboard his dad built him when he was a toddler and swapped it out of the attic, leaving room for the loft bed in storage.

Then, thanks to Garnett Hill, his bed got a comfy jersey fitted sheet and pillow cases, and an Essential Core-Loft blanket (the size of the blanket allows it to drape over the bed). I skipped the top sheet because never in my life have I seen a 7 year old wake up with a top sheet still nicely sandwiched between their body and blanket.

We LOVE this bedding. It’s well-made, washes beautifully, and I’m confident it will last a long time. The core-loft blanket isn’t too hot in the summer or cold in the winter.

While most might not classify this wall as a neutral, I’m pretty confident it’s a color and pattern that will blend into whatever decor he has in mind for the future, including piles of filthy t-shirts and posters of some future crush.

It was super easy to create. My husband used a long metal level to draw the lines on the wall, then went over them with blue painter’s tape. He also used the clear caulk trick (MUST DO!) to get those crisp lines. The entire room was painted Sterling (Behr) prior to taping, then we went over the taped wall with Behr’s Deep Blue Sea. Don’t forget to pull the tape off while it’s still wet!

That shelf is one we purchased at Ikea many years ago. It used to be an upright book shelf in Kendall’s room, then it was a horizontal, wall-mounted shelf in our entry way at our old house. Now, it’s the perfect storage solution for LEGOs, games, and other small toys.

We glued those LEGO plates to the top with Gorilla Glue.

Much like the old, repurposed book shelf, lots of pieces in this room have had a long life already. I used them to bring in layers of fun without much expense.

We bought that planet mobile from Pottery Barn Kids before he was born. Those tie-dyed pillows were DIYs made with dye from the craft store and cheap white pillow cases.

The side table is part of a set of nesting tables I’ve had since college. I painted over it’s honey oak finish with Americana Decor chalk paint in Primitive, from Home Depot. It’s slightly distressed with brown wax, then sealed with clear wax.

I recently purchased the curtains from Land Of Nod. The classic pinstripe ticking, with the fun pop of orange dye at the bottom was exactly the combination of unexpected and functional that I was going for. It was love at first click.

The reading corner has a Land Of Nod beanbag that he got for Christmas a couple years ago, a new metal cart from Target that we filled with his favorite books, and a floor lamp that we spray painted blue. I Modpodged pieces of an old road atlas that was floating around our trunk onto the lampshade.

This DIY memo board is just a piece of wood (Kendall painted this when he was 3!), with some elastic (from the sewing section) tied around it.

Kendall and I have been reading Harry Potter together, and I remember when I first read this out loud to him. I teared up. Total mom dork moment. It’s such a powerful, important lesson to remember. So I ordered this print from Etsy, and framed it in a Target frame.

The bathroom still needs work, so just ignore that part. That’s a whole other beast we’re just not ready for yet. The hat rack is a piece of ironwork we bought on our honeymoon. I spray painted it silver for Kendall’s space-themed nursery, and it used to hold backpacks and sun hats.

The robot art is by the brilliant Gregg Deal, also carried over from Kendall’s previous room.

A CanvasPop canvas of Kendall and his dad that we’ve had for ages hangs in the entry way.

And a basket I scored at HomeGoods holds large toys for now. Maybe it will become a wastebasket or footstool in the future.

If you’re pregnant or have a baby that you’re decorating for right now, I have 3 bits of advice for you:

1. Keep it simple. No need to get the diaper stacker the matches the ruffled curtains and the bumper. (I honestly don’t think you need a bumper.)

2. Buy pieces with the future in mind. It will be here before you or your bank account knows it.

3. Invest in the neutral stuff, get creative and cheap with the age/trend/phase-specific stuff.

Now that that task is behind me, I think it’s time to concentrate on my office. Or our bedroom. The kitchen? Oh, heck. It will probably be Leyna’s room. (Just a few things to finish in there.)

This turned out fantastic! And bravo to Mr. Baby Rabies for being such a good sport about the painting. My marriage might not survive if I tried to get my husband to do a bunch of wild (but AWESOME!) finishes on walls. 😀